Tube Notes

By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service

• MUST-SEE: (Network TV): "Saturday Night Live Remembers Chris Farley," 9 p.m., NBC. In his best moments, Farley was a comedy marvel. Farley lived hard and died young.

• MUST-SEE (Cable): "Neil Simon's: Laughter on the 23rd Floor" (8 p.m.) and "Hail Caesar! The Golden Age of Comedy" (9:45 p.m.), Showtime. In TV's early days, Sid Caesar did amazing things. The writers on his shows included Woody Allen, Neil Simon, Mel Brooks and Larry Gelbart. Caesar kept pushing himself harder, filled with pills, alcohol and anger. Those days were re-created in a movie version of Simon's play "Laughter on the 23rd Floor." The film is short on laughter, but provides a moving portrait of a comedian, warmly played by Norman Lane. Then stick around for the documentary.

• "Beverly Hills Ninja" (1997), 7 p.m., NBC. Farley plays an orphan raised by a martial arts master. Lots of silliness follows.

• "Unsung Heroes of Pearl Harbor" (5 p.m.), "Tora, Tora, Tora: The Real Story of Pearl Harbor" (6 p.m.) and "One Hour Over Tokyo: The Doolittle Raid" (8 p.m.), History Channel. These documentaries arrive the day after the movie "Pearl Harbor" opens.